Courtesy of Dan Kelly, SwimSwam Intern. Follow: @DanKelso3
As a junior at Boston College, I have watched keenly three generations of seniors step up to their final, fateful block. It’s nearly the same scene every time. They perch on the block, and a hardly attainable goal that once rested on their minds abruptly awakens. I can see it clearly, hounding at their brain to find every last ounce of strength during its final chance at reality. Instinctively, the buzzer launches them forward into the water. While the fundamentals of their race mirror the thousands of races of their past, something still seems different. Each stroke has a new purpose in its movement, driving them toward dreams of an ever-higher, nearly unreachable achievement. As they turn for their final lap, I can see the passion in their kicks whip up the water behind them into a white froth of fury. Suddenly, after a moment’s touch of the wall, their time is up. They hesitate briefly before looking at the clock, the pure heart within them resonating in their bright red faces. And yet, as they see the final judgment, they often rip off their goggles in disappointment.
Think of your final race.
Perhaps as you opened your eyes toward the clock for the final time, your dream became reality. If you’re like most swimmers, however, it probably didn’t. And that’s a good thing. You see, our entire sport is focused on goal setting. When we achieve a goal, we set a new goal. When we achieve that goal, we set the next goal even higher until it eventually sits just out of reach for us, yet suddenly in sight for those who follow in our footsteps.
The harsh reality and underappreciated beauty of this sport is that we can never be satisfied. If we were, this sport would not advance. It is these ever-greater goals and impending failures that are so significant to the success of our programs.
I look at the seniors who have been leaders and role models to me for so long, and can’t help but smile at what they consider failure. Andrew Stranick, for example, who came in as a freshman with his eyes set on the 57.44 100-yard breaststroke school record from 1993, looked disappointed as he touched his final wall in a time of 55.11. Even Nick Henze, who had taken two full seconds off his own 200-yard freestyle school record the night before, sat in silence after he fell just short of reclaiming the 100-yard freestyle record.
Don’t you swammers see?
In your own disappointment, you have achieved a victory larger than yourself. It is your own expectation of greatness to the point of unattainability that sets a precedent of higher achievement to those who follow. By always expecting more of yourself and your teammates, you inevitably face failure yet simultaneously create a legacy of success.
I think I speak for all of us swimmers when I say thank you: thank you for expecting greatness; thank you never being satisfied; and thank you for making us goal-crazed swimmers too.
So please don’t put your goggles down in disappointment. Rather, hand them down to those of us that have looked up to your value of betterment for so long, and know that you’re responsible for the success that follows.
Andrew Stranick (courtesy of Dan Kelly)
thanks for the goosebumps. time to grind for 1 more year
Thank you for your article. My grandson just swam his last swim last night. He commented on it being last and fast. He has swam year round since he was 12. As you said, he has set goals, made them, resetting them. Didn’t make some, but mostly did. I’m so very proud of him. He’s grown as a wonderful young man through the years and I’m proud to be called his Nanny.
He goes to Drury University. During the recent NCAA swim and dive championships he helped rally his team. Not because he was the team captain or because he felt he had to, but because he wanted to. Because he cared about his team, his team family. Like… Read more »
When I finished my final race at NCAA’s, the emotion I felt the most was sadness. Not because I had completely deviated from my race plan and fouled up that race and crashed in a very distinctly non-heroic fashion, but because my swimming career was over. It was the crushing sadness of a break-up. I had lost the constant companionship of not only the swimming itself, but of all that comes with it: goal-setting, teammates, trips, highlights and lowlights. I knew that I would never have that same level of competition again, with and against swimmers just as focused as me, living a student-athlete life. That last race was the first step away from the bubble of college life and… Read more »
I just had my last meet in February, and it was extremely emotional for me as well. I’m a lifelong swimmer – 17 years – and I was swimming in the consol heat (seeded 16th) of the 200 fly, my favorite event. Standing behind those blocks I remember just feeling good about myself. I was never the fastest person on the team cause of my height and body type, but a few of my old coaches’ saying were bouncing around in my head, and, in my opinion, I had done everything possible to reach this point in my career. I had no regrets. I moved up a spot to score 2 points for my team and I just went nuts… Read more »
This points out the difference between runners and swimmers. There is no FINAL race, until you are 6 feet under. Why don’t swimmers move seamlessly into Masters, just as cross country runners and track athletes move into running 5ks to marathons? They’ll be 40,000+ running the Chicago Marathon this year. Why aren’t their tens of thousands competing in masters swim meets?
sorry, substitute there for their in the last line. Need an edit function.
That’s a good question. It would be interesting to know why probably only a small fraction of college swimmers go on to masters. I know that when I did my last college swimming race over 30 years ago I thought that I’d never go into masters swimming – it would be too depressing to look at the clock and see my times decline, and after over a decade of pool-swimming I felt I needed to branch out and do other things.
But I needed to exercise to avoid getting fat, so I ran for awhile and was side-lined by shin splints. I rode a bicycle regularly for awhile and was scared off by driver’s attitudes toward cyclists. After more than… Read more »
While I agree and wish more people did Masters, I think there’s more of a one to one comparison between college swimming and Masters that can be discouraging. Running track and running marathons (or even 5k) are inherently different. There’s no time comparison. In Masters swimming, you swim the same distances and you do in college. I don’t think you see a lot of former college track athletes running in track meets for fun. Former college swimmers should look to open water (which is sort of our equivalent to 5ks and marathons) for a new challenge!
Actually you don’t have to swim the same races. Unlike USA swimming and college, there are 50s of every stroke, the 100 IM and mixed relays. It’s awesome to stand behind the blocks waiting for the fast heat and seeing the 80 year olds finishing the same race. It puts swimming into perspective as a lifelong sport that keeps us healthy, looking young, agile and ultimately alive. No matter when people come back to the sport, they are accepted for who they are because we are all bonded through the same water, which makes it a lot like college swimming but better because it is always masters. This means if you don’t want to, you certainly don’t have to. 🙂
Chicago Scott – Running is relatively cheap and easy when compared to swimming. Running is shorts, shoes, and a trip out the front door. Swimming involves more supply lines: a drive, a change of clothes, a pool fee…it just takes more effort and is more expensive.
But on the bright side, swimming is much easier on the body in the long run (pun intended). As a wise lifelong triathlete once said to me: “Sooner or later, we’re all going to wind up in the pool.”
As for the question of comparing yourself as a masters swimmer to what you were back in the day — Eventually….eventually… you mostly get over that and the backward looking time horizon gets shorter and… Read more »
Thank you for this. I recently wrapped up my swimming career and I will admit, it was damn emotional. The coaches put me on the 4×1 relay, anchor leg. I was tearing up before the race began and was nervous as hell as I stepped up onto the block. I also didn’t perform as well as I wanted to in my best event. After reading this article, I got a little sense knocked into me. I’m proud of myself and what I’ve done and what I’ve gone through to get here.
Great article. I remember finishing my last college races with best times and still was disappointed. In hindsight, I’m proud of what I accomplished, but always knew I could have done better. There was that one practice I could have done a little bit more. As a coach, I tell my swimmers to leave it all in the pool and that they never want to finish their career with a “what if” or any regrets.
This is such a great article, Dan! Great job!